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It's easy to forget now, as it happened two very long weeks ago, but Serena Williams arrived at the US Open in 2018, which had already been a victim of injury.
Bernard Giudicelli, president of the French Tennis Federation, who opens the French Open, had just promised to ban outfits like the big black suit of compression integral, short-sleeved and the striking red belt that Williams wore. in spring.
"You have to respect the game and the place," Giudicelli told Tennis Magazine. It was a complaint so vague as to say nothing of what tellthe respect. Was his body too tight? His silhouette too full? Skin too brown?
The French Open was Williams' first major tournament since life-threatening complications after the birth of his daughter. During her three rounds of tournament leadership (an injury to the pectoral muscles forced her to retreat), she mentioned that the costume reminded her of the "black panther" and dedicated her to "all the moms who had a difficult recovery. of pregnancy. "
Needless to say, many people have thrown their hands in disgust and indignation at Giudicelli's comic insinuation. But not Williams. When she was questioned about it in the United States, no action was taken.
"Clearly, Grand Slams have the right to do what they want," Williams said. "I feel as if and when, or if they know that some things are for health reasons, then it is not possible that they are not O.K. with that. So I think it's okay. The president of the French Federation, he was really incredible. It was so easy to talk.
And that's it: a mini fiasco had been defused. His firm yet relaxed de-escalation gave such a tone to both his dominant, effective and tactical performance at the Open and the recalibration of his image (from the insurmountable god to the maternal human) that when she exploded in Saturday's final against Naomi Osaka, my heart shattered.
All the work Williams had put in serenity was being undone. Osaka took the first set quickly, 6-2. At the beginning of the second, chair umpire Carlos Ramos evaluated a Williams foul after noticing his coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, signaling with his hands. His honor had been disputed. "I do not cheat to win, I would rather lose," she told Ramos. "I'm just letting you know."
During the transition before the fourth game, Williams calmly repeated to Ramos that she is not cheating. He agreed, the game resumed and Williams finally broke the Osaka service. But when Osaka quickly backed down, Williams smashed his racket on the field twice, and Ramos proved him right. Destroying material is a violation of the code. It was his second. Ramos announced the penalty on the sound system, but she did not hear. Williams' confusion became the crowd. Finally, his fury at the situation was also contagious.
Twenty years of watching Serena Williams left me nervous about following the game. Obviously, it happened again.
"Again" could also refer to Kim Clijsters' sudden defeat in 2009, which would have just returned from her maternity leave. It is notorious now that Williams is called for a foul on a second serve and Williams threatening to push a bullet in the throat of a linesman, a woman named Shino Tsurubuchi, who showed no emotion. She was warned, then penalized a point – it was a point of match. She was also fined $ 82,500 and a kind of two-year probation.
Two Opens later, in an unbalanced and losing final against Sam Stosur, Williams was docked to a point for shouting his trademark "Come on!" Before a rally with Stosur was actually completed. "You hate," she told chair referee Eva Asderaki. "And you are only unattractive inside."
Of Williams' 23 major titles, six came to the United States. I remember some of these victories, but I also remember all that has always been for her. I did not even mention the devastating end of his 2015 Grand Slam quest. The semi-final defeat against Roberta Vinci, who played a great game, was one of the most stressful events I've ever seen. But she came out of the tournament with a new human dimension.
It's enough to make the Arthur Ashe stadium a crucial scene for Williams. "It's amazing, every time I play here, I have problems," she told Ramos, justifying the question I whisper to myself before starting a US Open: Which of the bad weather would it use if things went wrong?
You remember the temperament of Serena Williams for the way he sings but also for his aberration. Actresses can win Oscars for emotional burning, but there is little tolerance for a non-fictional black woman undressing. Black female rabies is an incarcerated stereotype whose social costs remain absurdly high.
So you could enjoy some kind of freedom in Williams' tirades. Right now, there is a very good documentary across the country – "John McEnroe: in the realm of perfection "- who pleads for genius in McEnroe's legendary temper tantrums. It would be something to make such a movie about a woman.
Nevertheless, I have always found Williams' eruptions at the US Open. As a person who has watched her with fear, suspense and pride, I find that what is particularly terrible is the way this pride – in her excellence, in her incredible historicism, in her courage – forced to find excuses for his descendants. It's just … Serena.
We are uncomfortable about how to criticize Williams' behavior without this criticism that seems racist or sexist, given the racism and sexism that Williams and his sister Venus continue to endure. You see something like an Australian caricaturist caricaturing Williams as a wild species from the era of Jim Crow and Osaka as a faceless blonde (she is the daughter of a Japanese mother and a father Haitian) and just a glimpse of what Williams has been dragging with her on the tennis court in recent years.
But there is a line between the objection and the threat. Threatening a woman to eat a tennis ball, as was the case in the 2009 semi-final, seems exaggerated.
What was exciting about Williams returning to the Open this year was his mood change. The road that Williams was going to take for the Saturday final was the highest. It's not just his dismissal from this case of catsuit. It was his new outfit. She spent the tournament in a tutu that she wore at the waist. It was bulky and capricious and, where the brown shoulder was sensitive, just of. And yet, as can be seen on a tennis court, the dress was incongruous, less a thank you note than an emblem of grace.
You could not watch this year's tournament without seeing Williams – and that grace – in an advertisement for something. One of them, for Chase, stands out. This shows her rocking her baby before letting her go so that Williams can go out and train. He's awesome enough to feel like a mini-Terence Malick.
In his narration, Williams says, "Do not say it's a comeback. I have been here for years and have put suckas in awe. They are lyrics of L. J J J's "Mama Said Knock You Out", a masterpiece of Braggadocio and Breath Control. Williams tempers his violence with something more contemplative, until all the warmth of L.L.
Saturday, grace had begun to come out of her. More pressure Williams seemed embarrassed. It was not just that Williams lost to Osaka, who in one year became one of the most exciting young players in tennis (she is 20, 16 years younger than her opponent in the final). Osaka beat Williams with power, speed, accuracy and ease. His game is Serena.
What embarrassed Williams is perhaps also the feeling that, in Ramos' grief, she was dishonored by a young woman who adored her, in front of millions of young people whose sponsors like Nike adore. This finale was a battle between the versions of herself, as she wants to be seen – as a mother, a woman, a legend, a winner, as elegant, honest and true as the multiple ways she was perceived and Saturday, placedperceived
A court – "my court," as she said in Ramos – has become several. And the trials may have been too many, even for the greatest athlete of all time.
Holding is a crucial aspect of any tennis match. You must hold a racket and the ball before throwing it. You must also hold your service, which means holding your attention and your nerves, while also holding the racket and the ball. Holding is a clear sign of strength. You hold, you are very likely to win.
There was so much that Williams could not hold on Saturday – she serves, the trophy, she's cool. In other words, all that Osaka was able to do instead. But on the postmatch podium, no woman could hold back her tears. Nobody knew very well what had just happened, but only the joy that Osaka deserved to release was crucial. She had to hold that too.
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